International Paper announced it plans to close five sites in Germany as part of its integration with DS Smith. In related news: Stora Enso considers the future of its European sawmills, plans to spin off its Swedish forest assets; West Fraser answers questions on BC sawmill closure; Corner Brook Pulp and Paper remains shutdown; and Conifex reports Q3 2025 loss of $16.6 million. Meanwhile: Canada works to diversify its lumber markets; and BC Steelworkers want more stability.
In Forestry/Climate news: Canada endorsed Brazil’s tropical forest declaration at COP30; Forest Stewardship Council passes motion to control false claims; BC ENGOs protest old-growth logging; and Washington state votes to increase riparian buffer zones. Meanwhile, University of Northern BC’s Oscar Venter is recognized for his conservation research; the University of New Brunswick’s Yukun Lu advances autonomous trucking technology; and the Forest Professionals BC conference looks at the Forest Economy Under Pressure.
Finally, USDA searched for ‘diversity and climate modeling’ to target grants for cancellation.
Kelly McCloskey, Tree Frog News Editor
CASTLEGAR, BC
Zoom Seminar | November 18| 11:30am – 1:00pm| This seminar helps leaders and teams learn to use artificial intelligence to enhance productivity, communication, and operational efficiency. Rather than replacing people, AI can act as a digital teammate, handling routine or repetitive work so humans can focus on creativity, decision-making, and critical thinking. Participants will explore practical ways to use AI tools like ChatGPT, Copilot, and others to streamline workflows in areas such as administration, project management, customer service, and content creation. You will learn: How AI tools like ChatGPT and Copilot work; common misconceptions; How to give clear, effective instructions to AI. Examples of strong vs. weak prompts; Examples of AI applications for administrative tasks, writing, and increasing productivity; and What to include in an internal AI-use framework: approved tools, privacy, and accountability. Safe and unsafe examples. $29 per person (you do not need to be a BC Wood member to participate – Limited to participants from Canada only)
REDDING, Calif. – A groundbreaking effort is underway in Redding where 
Trouble in the Headwaters, a 25-minute documentary by Daniel J. Pierce, is coming to Golden! This film sheds light on the disastrous 2018 flood event in Grand Forks, BC, and features UBC forest hydrology and watershed management Professor Dr. Younes Alila. Both Daniel and Younes will be present to introduce the film and answer questions afterwards as part of a panel discussion with local experts and Wildsight’s forestry team. Join us to explore the complex connection between clearcut logging and the increasing frequency of floods, landslides and droughts across our province. 
Local residents are invited to share their input on the development of the Mackenzie forest landscape plan (FLP), which will guide long-term forest management in the area. “This is an opportunity for Mackenzie residents to share what matters most about your forests,” said Ravi Parmar, Minister of Forests. “Forests are part of who we are and your voices guide how they’re managed.” People can share their thoughts through a survey, open from Monday, Nov. 10 until Dec. 22, 2025. …FLPs are intended to be developed in partnership with First Nations to ensure meaningful participation in forestry planning and decision-making. Tsay Keh Dene Nation has partnered with the Province on the Mackenzie FLP. Engagement with other First Nations in the area continues. Community engagement is also a key part of every FLP, ensuring everyone in the area has an opportunity to be heard. 
Murray Wilson believes active forest management is crucial to reducing greenhouse emissions. The connection between the two is wildfires. “If you can reduce wildfires, just on carbon alone – your CO2 emissions – you’re doing a good thing,” said the retired Vernon forester… For the past year, Wilson has been sharing this message, about the need for active forest management, with residents and politicians through his new and first film, the documentary B.C. is Burning. …The Shuswap Climate Action Society, Forsite Consultants Ltd. and Canoe Forest Products will present the film in Salmon Arm on Nov. 26, with a Q&A moderated by Salmon Arm Mayor Alan Harrison. …Wilson will be screening the documentary at the B.C. Legislature. He said government officials, including B.C. Wildfire assistant deputy minister Rob Schweitzer, featured in the film, have taken part in past screenings and question periods. He views this as a sign the documentary is resonating with the Province.
Biologist Amber Peters and the Valhalla Wilderness Society (VWS) screened their highly-anticipated film, Safe Haven: The Rainbow-Jordan Wilderness, about the biodiverse and nearly-untouched inland temperate rainforest just north of Revelstoke. “This is the best example of a fully-intact inland temperate rainforest,” Peters said. … The Rainbow-Jordan is likely “the largest pocket of intact temperate rainforest in the region” around Revelstoke, Wildsight Revelstoke branch manager Reanne Harvey said. “The forest itself has been in that space for over a thousand years.” … The 30-minute film, produced in collaboration with Damien Gillis, advocates for the B.C. government to protect these expanses of hard-to-access and undisturbed old-growth from logging as a Class A provincial park. Unlike an old-growth protected area or Indigenous Protected and Conserved Area, park status would ensure legislated protection for the Rainbow-Jordan, Peters told some 200 attendees at the screening.
The PRT tree seedling nursery …with locations in Canada and the United States is North America’s largest producer of container-grown forest seedlings. …But at time when the forestry sector is facing hurdles such as softwood lumber duties and new American tariffs, the 2 Billion Trees program will be scrapped in the proposed federal 2025 budget. …a billion trees would have been grown from seed in nurseries like PRT and then planted across Canada. …Brinkman Reforestation is the largest tree planting company in Canada and says the industry is facing enough hurdles without having the 2 Billion Trees program cancelled. …In Black Creek, three generations of the same family have been growing tree seedlings at Sylvan Vale Nurseries. …manager Siriol Paquet says extra programs like 2 Billion Trees are important at at time when logging is declining, because if trees aren’t being cut, then they don’t need to be replaced with new ones.
On Oct. 17 … the Flathead National Forest’s district ranger in Swan Lake proposed an emergency logging and thinning project west of Blacktail Mountain called the West Truman Project. The project proposal … was published to the Flathead National Forest’s projects website, signaling a departure from the agency’s usual strategy of notifying members of the public about planning projects by email and issuing press releases. It also came with a caveat: The West Truman Project is being analyzed under the USDA’s newly established Emergency Action Determination and, as such, is exempt from the usual layers of permitting compliance — including public comment. …Keith Hammer, leader of the Swan View Coalition, said he wasn’t surprised to see the Flathead National Forest propose a logging project with the stated purpose of reducing wildfire risk; however, he was surprised by the covert way in which they proposed it.
Policies by the Trump administration are putting communities at increased risk for wildfire because federal funding for fuels treatment work is becoming more difficult to obtain. That is the opinion of a group of policymakers and politicians who convened in Bend last week to discuss how best to manage local forests. Bend Mayor Melanie Kebler, Deschutes County Commissioner Phil Chang and State Senator Anthony Broadman — all Democrats — were among those in attendance… Members of the group said there is a lack of clarity over future treatments in the Deschutes National Forest following years of mitigation work that cleared the forest floor of fuels and thinned areas to prevent a fast-moving crown fire. …Chang said he is especially concerned with the Trump administration’s Fix our Forest Act … The bill relies mostly on logging and cattle grazing to clear fuels that cause catastrophic wildfire, but funding for prescribed burning isn’t part of the legislation. 
Rising wildfire risk in the Pacific Northwest combined with volatile timber pricing may lower forestland values by as much as 50% and persuade property owners to harvest Douglas fir trees much earlier than planned, according to a new analysis. The optimal age to harvest Douglas fir trees — absent fire risk — would be 65 years. The study, from Oregon State University researchers, suggests that harvesting trees at 24 years would make the most economic sense under the worst-case scenarios. “Basically, under high wildfire risk that rises with stand age, every year you wait to harvest you’re rolling the dice,” said Mindy Crandall, an associate professor in the OSU College of Forestry. Co-author Andres Susaeta, an OSU forestry assistant professor, said the study was a simulation, but researchers are confident in the direction of results. Susaeta said earlier harvesting reduces both long-term timber revenue and impacts wood quality.
Albuquerque, NM — A new report by Grassroots Wildland Firefighters reveals a troubling decline in wildfire prevention work across the nation. According to the report, hazardous fuel reduction efforts on U.S. Forest Service land are down 38% since January 2025 compared to recent years, following significant federal budget cuts to staffing and resources. Hazardous fuel treatments are critical in preventing catastrophic wildfires. These projects include thinning overgrown forests, clearing brush, and conducting prescribed burns to reduce the vegetation that feeds wildfires. The group’s findings directly contradict recent public assurances from administration officials that land management agencies remain adequately funded and staffed. …The analysis shows mitigation work has fallen especially low in Idaho and Montana, where fewer than 30% of acres have been treated this year compared to previous averages. …Grassroots Wildland Firefighters warn that unless funding is restored, the nation’s wildfire season will grow increasingly severe and dangerous in the years ahead.
A bipartisan piece of legislation that could have big impacts on the nation’s forest land continues to move quickly through Congress, pushing through a Senate committee last month. The Fix Our Forests Act was introduced in the U.S. Senate in April and co-sponsored by Sen. Tim Sheehy, along with Senators from California, Utah and Colorado. The legislation seeks to promote prescribed burns, expand the state-federal Good Neighbor Authority program, increase collaboration among fire agencies and improve reforestation efforts after fires. It also makes some rule changes that could impact how areas designated as high fire danger are managed and how projects in those areas proceed. …The legislation has received some support from environmental and outdoor advocacy groups… But there has also been some concern with it, namely around how it could change the process of forest projects, especially those in a declared “emergency fireshed management” area.
By 2015, the dense 1,385 hectares Kandowa Forest once filled acacia and mahogany … had vanished entirely. The disappearance of forests like Kandowa reflects a broader environmental catastrophe unfolding across South Darfur, where more than 70 percent of tree cover has been lost over the past decade… The violence that erupted between Sudan’s army and the Rapid Support Forces in April 2023 has only accelerated the destruction, pushing desperate families deeper into what remains of the forests. With gas supplies cut off and charcoal prices soaring fivefold, survival itself now depends on felling trees. …Salim outlined a more comprehensive approach: making alternative energy sources like gas and solar power affordable, launching large-scale reforestation…, and enforcing stronger laws to combat illegal logging and timber smuggling. …”If people have no peace, no jobs, no energy, they will keep cutting trees,” said Khaldi Fathi Salim, with South Darfur’s Ministry of Agriculture. 
BELÉM, Brazil
Smoke from wildfires causes a cascade of changes in the proteins in the blood of firefighters, according to a groundbreaking study by researchers from the University of Arizona School of Public Health. The researchers found 60 different changes in blood proteins in samples taken from 42 firefighters who battled the Los Angeles wildfires that charred 23,000 acres and forced 10,000 people to flee their homes. Those changes in serum proteome are associated with a potential increased risk of cancer, abnormal cell growth, immune system dysfunction and inflammatory response. …The findings are the latest to highlight the health risks facing wildland firefighters, who for decades have actually been barred from wearing protective masks on the fire lines for fear it would limit their work and lead to overheating. The Forest Service recently shifted its policy to allow firefighters to wear masks if they choose.